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: JOSEPH H.BM33LEY 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 






Chap........ Copyright No.„ 

ShelfBTH-O 



UNITED STATES OF AMERIC 



v. 



J 



The Love of God 



The Love of God 



Revealed to the En- 
tire Universe by- 
Man's Redemption 



"Things new and old" 

Matt. xiii. 52. 



Rev. JOSEPH H. BRADLEY, D.D. 

Chaplain National Soldiers' Home, Va. 




New York Chicago Toronto 

Fleming H. t&evell Company 

Publishers of Evangelical Literature 



v 

-&> Vf 

Library of Congretife ~~\k I 

Office of Uw •— ^ 

2 618^ 

Register of Copyrights* 



50953 

Copyright, 1899 

by 

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 




SECOND COPY, 






Preface 

It is over twenty years since the 
germ of this treatise was discovered. 
What is here written is not the sudden 
and hasty development of a passing 
thought, but the steady growth from 
years of study and careful examination, 
and of practical acquaintance with the 
inherent spiritual power of a new as- 
pect of basal truth. It is now sent 
forth with confidence in its beneficent 
virtue. It stands upon the best 
foundation that any discovery of re- 
ligious truth ^ can possess, and all 
which it demands. It is wholly in 
accord with all Scripture, and not 
traversed by a single line of sacred 
revelation. It gloriously explains 
much of the mystery of man's being 
and his relations with God, to the 
5 



Preface 

praise of His glory, and to awaken in 
men a new and powerful impulse to 
seek God and serve and enjoy Him, in 
the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Jos. H. Bradley. 

National Soldiers' Home, Va. 



The Love of God 

Revealed to the Entire Universe 
by Man's Redemption 

In the single fact of the intentness 
of the angelic world upon human 
redemption we find the key to the 
mystery of the gospel. The treasures 
of wisdom hidden from the foundation 
of the world are opened by this par- 
ticular instrument. 

Revealed truth affords no evidence 
that the beings commonly called 
"angels" love God. All the facts 
given in the Scriptures tend toward 
the conclusion that the angels do not 
love God. Whatever the precise fact 
may be it has a large bearing upon the 
nature of man's relations with God, 
and, manifestly, upon God's relations 
with the whole rest of the universe of 
7 



The Love of God 

intelligent beings. This consideration 
suggests a careful estimate of the facts 
lying within our reach and use. 

I. Can Angels Love? 

They are a distinct order, or of 
many orders, among created beings, 
as is shown by Heb. ii. 16, " Verily 
(ou dy Tzou, indisputably) He took not on 
Him the nature of angels, but He took 
on Him the seed (dMdffnepfiaros, differ- 
ent seed, or race) of Abraham," of 
necessity being made the same as 
His brethren. Further, the words of 
Jesus, "made equal unto the angels" 
(ladryeUoc, on a level with angels) 
means anything other than identity 
with or original likeness to the race of 
angels; it means equal or parallel in 
certain respects only, and indicated 
by the context ("neither marrying 
nor giving in marriage"), and has a 
limited significance. The force of 
Jesus' argument, if He had meant 
otherwise, would have been more 
s 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

distinct and to this point had He said, 
" they shall be angels "; therefore it is 
but fair to conclude that He said what 
He meant, and what is the exact fact. 
Also we can only believe that no one 
order of beings can become another: 
"angels" will ever remain angels, 
and man as man. We can make no 
analogy, therefore, upon this point, 
from the fact that mankind possess 
the faculty of loving and hence angels 
also love. Nor from an analogy could 
we argue that any of the intellectual 
faculties and processes of angels are 
identical with those of mankind, even 
though their respective operations and 
results may appear to be identical. 
Because here, on our same and com- 
mon abode, and living under the same 
general conditions, we find among the 
different races or genera of beings that 
their mental conclusions are apparently 
reached through different processes: 
birds, fishes, brutes and man have 
kindred necessities of communication 
9 



The Love of God 

and sensibilities, yet are vastly differ- 
ent in mental constitution. A photo- 
graphic camera can produce a picture 
more correctly and quickly than the 
hand of man, but there is not an 
identity, nor an analogy, in the 
process. Wherefore we have no rea- 
son to believe that the intellectual con- 
stitution and functions of angels are 
the same as those of mankind. 

Nowhere in Scripture are angels 
said to love God, nor man, nor one 
another. If the fact were that they 
did so love, their example would 
naturally be adduced for our instruc- 
tion and encouragement. They are dis- 
tinctly described as worshipping, rev- 
erencing, obeying and praising God, 
because of His holiness, wisdom and 
power. They are possessed of wis- 
dom and power, and do God's pleas- 
ure. Whether by any means known 
or unknown to us, we are not told. 
They are holy, but in what this holi- 
ness consists we do not know; it is 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

always relative and dependent upon 
specific relationship. We cannot as- 
sume that the angelic and human 
standards of holiness are the same, 
any more than, nor as much as, that 
the same rules bind men under differ- 
ent conditions. That a different stand- 
ard does prevail appears from Ex. xxiii. 
21, where it seems that angels may 
be quickly provoked and destroy in 
anger, which is unlike God, and as He 
made Himself known to Moses (" mer- 
ciful and gracious, long-suffering, and 
abundant in goodness and truth," etc. 
Ex. xxxiv. 6), and is unlike the fruit of 
the Holy Spirit in man (Gal. v. 22; 1 
Cor. xiii. 5, etc.); perhaps the experi- 
ence of Zacharias (Luke i. 19) bears on 
this point, who doubted the divine 
promise and suffered the indignation 
of Gabriel. 

The above facts sustain fully a 
logical inference that forgiveness of 
enemies does not constitute an ele- 
ment in the character of holy angels. 



The Love of God 

Forgiveness is a gracious disposition, 
is according to "the mind of Christ," 
and commended to us that we may 
have specific likeness to God. Be- 
cause angels have not sins to be for- 
given, the call to forgiveness were 
unavailable with them. They have 
no exercise for this function and 
grace of a human soul renewed after 
the divine image and filled* with the 
Holy Ghost. Assuredly no angel will 
wear the crown belonging to a for- 
given sinner, and therefore has not 
this grace which ensures that crown. 
Forgiveness is a saintly (royal) pre- 
rogative, a sublime imitation of Christ, 
and most exalted privilege. 

Being so wise, powerful and holy, 
doubtless in some respects (possibly 
to a greater extent, and in a different 
way than mankind), angels are able 
to rejoice in, and glorify God for His 
wisdom, power and holiness. They 
may be able to comprehend the good- 
ness of God as an expression of His 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

benevolence, yet not go beyond this 
point and understand His love with a 
full appreciation and sympathy. They 
may have a quick sense of the justice 
of God and yet not be able to compre- 
hend the glory of the mercy and grace 
proceeding from His love. For they 
are shown to us as looking with 
wonder and an intense longing to see 
the work of God in respect to the re- 
demption of sinners — in which they 
themselves have, and can have no 
experience — but "which things the 
angels (greatly) desire to look into," 
as though however without definite 
expectation of being able to compre- 
hend it, or as wondrously strange, and 
which is a point in this argument of 
indisputable force and direct perti- 
nency. This curiosity is ample proof 
that the manifestation of God in this 
world is something entirely and rad- 
ically new, and not only strange in 
degree, from anything that angels had 
ever seen. Also it is a fair inference 
13 



The Love of God 

from many points of view that these 
same "things" the devils do not be- 
lieve but regard incredulously, in that 
to them "a miracle of grace" is a re- 
versal of all the laws of being. The 
word in Isa. xlviii. 15 may well sus- 
tain this general implication, " God, 
Himself that formed the earth and 
made it; He hath established it, He 
created it not in vain." In seeming 
harmony with these views is the ref- 
erence to the "joy in the presence of 
the angels of God over one sinner that 
repenteth " (Luke xv. 10), not primarily 
in the angels themselves. It is also a 
notable fact that believers who on earth 
confess Jesus, them "shall the Son of 
Man also confess before the angels of 
God" (Luke xii. 8). 

Apparently because of the absence 
of this quality of love in themselves, 
and their inability rightly to sym- 
pathize with mankind in their pe- 
culiar needs, Moses trembled when 
God declared that He Himself would 
14 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

not go up with the Israelites through 
the desert, but would send an angel to 
accompany them; for before God had 
described the nature of the angel, say- 
ing "Beware of him, and obey his 
voice, provoke him not; for he will 
not pardon your transgressions." No- 
tice, also, that we nowhere read of 
angels making intercession for men, 
nor pleading on their behalf; and 
without love they would not be quali- 
fied for such an office, as is Jesus 
Christ, the Beloved Son of God, and 
the Holy Ghost, and they of mankind 
who have the love of God in them. 
But we do hear of the holy angels 
fighting against evil spirits, and con- 
tending with Satan. They are re- 
ported of as "walking to and fro 
through the earth" (Zech. i. n), and 
of bringing tidings of the evils they 
have seen, (as also Satan did, and ap- 
peared among them — Job. i. 7, ii. 1). 
They are employed to do specific 
works, good or harmful to man, but 
*5 



The Love of God 

only according to express directions; 
yet nowhere as a class do they offer 
prayer, nor show innate and sponta- 
neous sympathy or desire to relieve 
human sorrows. The song of the 
angels at the birth of Jesus was not 
that of personal beneficiaries in the 
work of redemption, but as beholders 
of the new manifestation of God's 
glory assured by the incarnation of the 
Son of God; it does not assume nor 
require that they should have any im- 
mediate relation to the events or di- 
rect advantage from them. They do 
not take part as principals in any of 
the songs and tributes of praise and 
rejoicing prefigured in the Book of 
Revelation, but are conspicuously ab- 
sent or outside, acting as spectators or 
attendants. The "angel" carrying 
the gospel to the four quarters of earth 
may well represent some impersonal 
agency, or a human force — even as we 
do regard the language of the whole 
book as figurative and not literally de- 

16 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

scriptive. The "angel" reported in 
Rev. xxii. 8, is not other than a hu- 
man being, and disclaims being tech- 
nically an "angel," but as John's " fel- 
low-servant, and of thy brethren the 
prophets," etc. 

That the angels have a great and 
ruling sense of righteousness, and, its 
correlate, of the horrors of unright- 
eousness, may be considered as indi- 
cated in the fact that they are com- 
missioned to gather out the wicked in 
the day of God's judgment, and cast 
them away; but the Lord Himself 
calls and separates the righteous to 
glory, as only the Shepherd knows 
His own sheep (Matt. xiii. 41, 49). 
Angels minister to the heirs of salva- 
tion, but only as " sent forth," not of 
their own motion (Zech. iii. 4, etc.). 
Further, and almost if not quite con- 
clusively, when we regard the Scrip- 
ture which teaches that "God is love," 
and that "he that loveth is born of 
God," and knowing that only saved 



The Love of God 

souls of men are so born of God, and 
that angels are not born of God, and 
do not say "Our Father which art in 
heaven," and "to none of them has 
God said, thou art My son," it is man- 
ifest that this love is not in them, as it 
is in men who are the children of 
God. 

Wherefore we can draw no other 
conclusion except that angels do 
not love God. 

II. Another or Higher order (aXX&a- 

Tzepiiaroq) OF BEINGS TO LOVE GOD 

This world was created for a partic- 
ular purpose and which therefore is 
exhibited in its history. So much we 
may confidently assume, or indeed 
be required logically to admit. In the 
diversity of worlds a diversity of di- 
vine plans is manifested, and in each 
different world there is a particular 
adaptation of various means to their re- 
spective ends. Also Christian ethics 

18 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

lead to the conclusion that under the 
operation of the divine attributes each 
world, or separate abode of any order 
or race of God's creatures, presents 
some new and distinct exhibition of 
His boundless and infinite range of 
glory. Then necessarily no two 
worlds are alike, nor have been 
created with the same design. Infi- 
nite glories may well find an infinite 
expression or display. 

Can we hesitate to say it was God's de- 
sign in creating this earth (or planetary 
system) to exhibit more or less widely, 
perhaps to the universe, the especial 
glory of His supreme or most precious 
attribute of love ? There can be 
hardly room for doubt that we have 
the revelation of such a fact. The 
proof is full that this particular effect 
is designed, and is God's specific 
work; "that in the ages to come He 
might show the exceeding riches of 
His grace in His kindness toward us, 
through Christ Jesus" (Eph. ii. 7), and 
19 



The Love of God 

"to the praise of the glory of His 
grace" (Eph. i. 6). As Dr. Duff said 
to his students, "The purpose from 
all eternity to create the universe, visi- 
ble and invisible, for the manifestation 
of divine glory, the permission of the 
fall of man in order that, through the 
assumption of human nature by the 
Everlasting Son of the Father, and the 
sacrificial shedding of His precious 
4 blood, myriads of the fallen and guilty 
might be redeemed and exalted to a 
higher position than that from which 
they fell, and all this in a way so 
jnarvellous that the glory of the attri- 
butes and perfections of the Supreme 
God might shine forth more brightly 
therein than in all the works of crea- 
tion besides." Rev. J. D. Kilburn has 
also written, "Just as the sin of Judas 
was overruled for the good of the 
world, so the sin of the world will be 
overruled for the good of the universe." 
This same thought is presented in a 
recent book, "The Wonderful Visit," 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

in describing the effect upon an angel's 
mind of "this grim little world of bat- 
tle and cruelty transfigured in a splen- 
dor that outshone the angelic land, 
suffused suddenly and insupportably 
glorious with the wonderful light of 
love and self-sacrifice." Rev. H. A. 
Boardman, D. D. expressed this idea, 
"Heaven cannot lack for evidence of 
the divine; but if it would see this at- 
tribute in its full glory it must come 
down to earth." 

Nothing herein implies that God 
made man and caused him to sin so 
that divine love and grace might be 
manifested. The making man a free 
moral agent involved the possibility of 
sin, and the foresight of his sin by his 
own voluntary action, yet without 
laying the responsibility for such sin- 
ning upon God. Such a responsibility 
might rest upon God if man had been 
no more than a mere flesh and blood 
piece of machinery, but he was noth- 
ing of that kind. Man was made up- 



The Love of God 

right and with full power to maintain 
his integrity even in the face of temp- 
tations; as we may believe to be the 
present exact status of the holy angels. 
To believe otherwise were to main- 
tain that sin is a necessary purtenance 
of moral agency, or that there is no 
such thing as a moral agency in any of 
God's creatures, which were an ab- 
surdity; or, that it is an inevitable se- 
quence of man's original constitution 
to transgress the law of righteousness, 
which were a gratuitous and wicked 
assumption. 

Therefore, from the above, we find 
appointed for mankind a specific vir- 
tue or advantage for the manifestation 
of divine love, by receiving the gift of 
the Holy Ghost. This single and sig- 
nificant, and glorious fact differentiates 
mankind from angels, and is the foun- 
dation of the decree that we shall be- 
come, be called and known as sons of 
God, by His Spirit who dwelleth in 
us. Nowhere is there the slightest evi- 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

dence that ever the Holy Ghost has 
been given to any angel, while it is 
made known that "He is given to 
every man," and by this gift we be- 
come " the temple of the Holy Ghost" 

This specific purpose of God ap- 
peared in earth's earliest experience 
and has been continuously sustained, 
and shall be consummated only at the 
close of earth's history. Thus the love 
of God shall be manifested as an ob- 
ject lesson for the universe as it shall 
appear not only in Himself, but also in 
us as "the love of the Father" in His 
adopted children, created anew, in 
Christ Jesus, after the divine image. 
This is to be the eternal mission of 
human beings through the ages. Glo- 
rious hope — unparalleled, and un- 
speakable blessedness! 

We are thus induced to conclude 
that this world's business is to afford 
a theatre, in whole or in part, for the 
exhibition of the love of God in the 
salvation of mankind and their exalta- 
23 



The Love of God 

tion to His right hand, and to be 
"partakers of the divine nature" and 
joys, and that the universe shall rap- 
turously behold the spectacle. Where- 
fore when earth was prepared for the 
human race "God said, let us make 
man in our image," and this as though 
it were a new design and never before 
done. A new order of beings was re- 
quired to show that which had been 
before unknown, namely, the perfect 
love of God. Hence, also, man hav- 
ing been so made in God's image was 
destined for fellowship with God in 
love, to dwell and be ever with Him, 
and above angels; "I dwell in the 
high and holy place with Him that is 
of a contrite and humble spirit" (Isa. 
lvii. 15), is an accurate description of 
a saved sinner of earth, of one who 
has been forgiven much and therefore 
loveth much, but not of a holy angel. 
And finally, and undeniably, all mun- 
dane creation and life centres in Jesus 
Christ, who is the Word of God. the 
24 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

last and ever fresh revelation of God 
to the entire universe, therefore all 
that is in and of this creation is through 
the gospel to man and to glorify God, 
who is love, and thus is manifest the 
divine purpose with this earth. 

Here then we may safely claim the 
fact, without infringing upon debat- 
able ground, that upon this earth a 
new divine revelation is afforded to 
the intelligence of the macrocosmic 
universe. Here God is showing His 
love. Here it is exhibited not only as 
dwelling and operating in Himself, but 
also as that love which finds in Him 
its only source and glory even when 
discovered in any of His creatures, as 
reflected or derived from Him. This 
double manifestation is requisite to 
give the perfect aspect and operation 
of love. It is God's purpose that the 
reflection of His love shall be cast 
upon the peaceful, trustful bosom of a 
renewed human heart, and thence 
shine forth again that all creation may 
2 5 



The Love of God 

see its wonders — even though not able 
to enter fully into its joys. This is 
human destiny. The complement of 
love in God is found in the love to be 
created and manifested in man, and is 
the witness and virtue of His immor- 
tality and glory. If love were only in 
God it would fail to show itself in its 
full proportions and beauty, its abun- 
dant godliness and joy. Therefore we 
find the love faculty universal among 
the creatures of God on earth, radiant 
in the whole sentient world. "It is 
the very nature of God to communi- 
cate Himself to finite beings. Loving 
His creatures with infinite love He can 
realize His blessedness only in them," 
(Prof. Jno. Watson, LL. D.). 

The last and fullest revelation of 
Himself to the world emphasizes the 
one fact "God is love." He is wor- 
shipped by man only in the power of 
love. There is no eternal life without 
love. Religiously without love man 
is "nothing," (i Cor. xiii. i, etc.). He 
26 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

only " that loveth is born of God" (i 
John iv. 7, 8); he that loveth not is 
dead, and in his sins. Love is the ful- 
filling of the law, all which is compre- 
hended in this, "thou shalt love God, 
and thy neighbor." God reveals His 
love to and in us that we might know 
the love that passeth knowledge, be 
filled with its power, and qualified to 
"dwell in love," and in God (i John 
iv. 12, 16). This principle is emphat- 
ically stated in a recent sermon by Dr. 
Herrick Johnson, "Say what we will 
about the glory of the intellect, I 
dare take the position that, after all, 
the heart is the man . . . it is in the 
affectional realm the King's palace is 
built. God lays the beams of His 
chambers there. The motive, not the 
conception, stamps souls; love, not 
thought, gives character to effort. 
The seal of Martin Luther represented 
a rose; and in the rose a heart, and in 
the heart a cross. . . . Whitfield's 
soul had as a device a winged heart 
27 



The Love of God 

soaring above the clouds. . . . Clearly 
the heart is the man. . . . The chief 
assault of the gospel is on our hearts. 
Love is its commanding command- 
ment." Hence the divine word teaches 
that love is "the bond of perfectness," 
wherein we are to be perfect even as 
our Father in heaven is perfect. While 
faith and hope in God are precious and 
glorious possessions for any of God's 
creatures, even an angel, yet beyond 
these and "the greatest is charity" 
(love, -q dydizrj), and which belongs 
only to mankind. Because of this fact 
we are commanded and must love 
God with our whole being and every 
faculty, and also to love all which is 
from and belongs to Him; which we 
shall do when we love Him. It is sin 
not to love God. This love is the 
badge of human righteousness (dis- 
cipleship in the gospel, John xiii. 35), 
and the will of God. The law of 
love is foolishness to the natural man, 
his reasoning faculty sinfully rejects 
28 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

it, but it appeals to his emotional na- 
ture: "with the heart man believeth 
unto salvation." The heart is the true 
and supreme source of will power. 
Human intelligence is an ever varying 
and uncertain quantity, and ever will 
be (at least until "we shall know even 
as we are known"); but love is full 
and true, wearies not, nor wears out, 
nor weakens while life lasts, and 
" partakes of the infinite "; it is Christ 
in us the hope of glory. "God is 
love, and he that dwelleth (is at home) 
in love dwelleth in God, and God in 
him. Herein is our love made perfect 
. . . because as He is, so are we in 
this world" (quere, we who live in 
and are of this particular world, and 
believe ?). The terms of love are such 
as God bestows upon us in the gospel. 
We are His "children," and to call 
Him "Our Father" ("but to which 
of the angels said He at any time, 
' thou art My son ' ? "). We are be- 
loved in Jesus Christ, and made joint 
29 



The Love of God 

heirs with the Only Begotten Son of 
God; the collective church is "the 
Lamb's Bride." We are to be ever 
with Him, and in communion and fel- 
lowship in His own house, at His 
right hand, filled with His joys, and 
no good thing is withheld from us, 
and to sit with Him on His throne; 
He is ours and we are His; He gives 
us all things. And in all the ages to 
come He shall show in us the exceed- 
ing riches of His grace, and love which 
passeth knowledge. 

III. The Inferior Hopes of Angels 

To none of the angels has God said, 
"Thou art My son"; none of them 
are to sit on the throne with Christ, 
nor enter into His joy. Nor has it been 
said of them that they should eat and 
drink with Him at His table. Nor 
have they any hope of beholding the 
glory which Christ had with the Father 
before the world was. They were 
not made in the likeness of God; nor 
30 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

have they eternal life, nor is it theirs 
to have fellowship with the Father and 
the Son, nor to be partakers of the 
divine nature; nor is their fellowship 
with us, for " we shall judge angels." 
Nowhere is there any sign nor token 
that they have the Holy Spirit given 
them, rather that this is the peculiar 
glory and distinctive blessing of the 
sons of men, and which signalizes the 
work of human redemption, and is the 
highest glory of any creature of God, 
and by whose indwelling we know 
God, and are able to comprehend the 
love of God (which is the privilege of 
"all saints," Eph. iii. 18). Every- 
where in Scripture angels are called 
"servants," who do God's pleasure, 
waiting for His commands; while of 
the believers in Christ, whom He has 
chosen, He says, "I call you not serv- 
ants, but friends" — and also "breth- 
ren" (John xx. 17; Heb. ii. 11). An- 
gels have it said of them, "Behold, 
He putteth no trust in His servants; 
31 



The Love of God 

and His angels He chargeth with 
folly " ; and they stand before God with 
veiled faces; while unto us is given in 
glory to dwell with God, to " see Him 
face to face," and "to know as even 
we are known." 

Admitting for mere argument's sake 
(to avoid offence to the prejudices of 
those who cannot conceive of an an- 
gelic intelligence without the faculty 
and therefore appreciation of God's 
love) that all angels may have some 
sense of God's love, yet even then it 
is plain that the distinct purpose of 
God in creating and governing this 
world is to give such special manifes- 
tation of His glory in His love as He 
had never before done — something new 
and so strange, and beyond all that the 
heavens had ever seen, and which 
aroused their intense interest, and 
should be displayed so to them, that 
throughout the ages should be made 
known the manifold glories of His 
grace in Christ Jesus " (Eph. iii. 10). And 
3 2 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

this particular admission in no degree 
weakens or disparages the lines of argu- 
ment leading to the main conclusion 
that love to God is the supreme service 
and joy and glory of the children of men, 
and wherein they are in a vast meas- 
ure distinguished from all other beings 
in the heavenlies — in their nature and 
eternal destiny as the children of God, 
and having the Holy Spirit as their 
peculiar possession. 

Angels shouted when the founda- 
tions of the earth were laid (Job xxxviii. 
7), anticipating the wonderful manifes- 
tation promised; and again when the 
Redeemer of sinners was born into 
the world (the Revelator, "Word of 
God ") a multitude sang in exultation, 
"Glory to God in the highest 
(heavens) ! " For they were beholding 
the central fact in the development of 
that new work of God, beyond all 
their experiences of every kind — that 
which is divinely designated one of 
the six wonders of "godliness" in re- 

33 



The Love of God 

demption, ''seen of angels" (i Tim. 
iii. 1 6), and which shall to angels be a 
continuous and glorious satisfaction: 
"to the intent that now unto the prin- 
cipalities and the powers in the heaven- 
lies might be made known through the 
church (Rev. Ver.), the manifold wis- 
dom of God, according to the eternal 
purpose which He purposed in Christ 
Jesus, our Lord" (Eph. iii. 10), for 
the redeemed of mankind are eternal 
monuments of God's glory. It is said 
of them, "Ye are My witnesses," and 
all who see shall confess, "It is the 
truth— there is no Saviour beside!" 
(Isa. xliii. 9— 11); of whom, also, God 
testifies "This people have I formed 
for Myself; they shall show forth My 
praise" (Isa. xliii. 21). And "every 
grateful redeemed heart is full of music 
that angels would like to sing." 

The angels had a knowledge of the 

fact of the condemnation of sin, and a 

realization of its just recompense when 

a portion of their own number fell 

34 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

from their first estate, and were kept 
in everlasting chains under darkness, 
reserved unto judgment. No hope of 
restoration was held out for such. We 
may well believe that pardon of sin 
has been an unknown idea in connec- 
tion with angelic history ; and that the 
wonderful word " forgiveness" they* 
had never heard, nor conceived of the 
possibility of that fact; wherefore 
their joyous eagerness to look through 
the door and see the new world lying 
beyond the portal of salvation bathed 
in the golden light of a boundless and 
unspeakable revelation of divine glory. 
How quickly and completely then 
when God declared His purpose to 
show to all His creatures the riches of 
His grace through this new manifesta- 
tion of His love, angels would be most 
truly interested. 

It is even conceivable that fallen and 

lost angels were made acquainted with 

this purpose of God, which, while it 

carried no hope to them, would yet 

35 



The Love of God 

vindicate the altogether glorious na- 
ture and attributes of God, making 
evident the fact that He takes no pleas- 
ure in the death of the wicked, and is 
full of love and grace. Herein further 
we have a reason for the otherwise 
strange fact that the final punishment 
prepared for the fallen angels waits 
until the revelation of God's love and 
grace, in man's redemption, shall ap- 
pear before the whole universe. Then 
grandly, gloriously, universally shall 
God " be justified when He speaketh, 
and clear when He judges"; high and 
low, angel and devil, saint and sinner, 
shall confess " Holy, holy art Thou, O 
Lord of Hosts. " In this particular con- 
nection we may receive light upon the 
meaning of what has been inexplicable, 
why the hopeless spirits, when Jesus 
commanded them into the deep, cried 
"Art Thou come to torment us before 
the time!" and at another time, "Art 
Thou come to destroy us (finally) ! " 
Also, quere, does i Pet. iii. 19 get a 
36 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

f 

special light upon it from this view ? 
Then at the judgment day not only the 
justice, but also the love and grace of 
God, will fully appear side by side be- 
fore the whole intelligent universe. 

Are we not building safely and well 
in thus conceiving of the purpose of 
God to manifest His wisdom, justice 
and love ? That in so doing He made 
a new order of beings who should be 
"lower than the angels," yet to be 
crowned with honor and glory, and 
finally be exalted above angels ? Hav- 
ing been made in God's image the sin 
of rebellion or disobedience "should 
appear exceeding sinful " (greater than 
the sin of angels who left their first 
estate), and yet that the riches of God's 
love was abundantly able to reach unto 
and save them, and find a place for 
them in His bosom. Such love is 
enough to fill all heaven with wonder 
and joy and praise; and there is rap- 
ture in their presence over the repent- 
ance of every sinner conquered by the 
37 



The Love of God 

love of God. Angels also shall find 
delight, and an unwearied interest in 
all the operations of divine love work- 
ing upon human hearts, and herein we 
see a reason why they should have a 
part and will be present in myriads to 
witness the events of "the great day" 
of perfected redemption, when Jesus 
shall sit on the throne of His glory, 
coming in His own glory; and in His 
Father's, and of the holy angels. 

An evidence of failure on the part of 
angels to understand divine love and 
grace is furnished in the fact that none 
were sufficient to effect nor preach this 
gospel. One only, that One both di- 
vine and human, Jesus Christ, was able, 
and when redemption was planned 
and the agent for its accomplishment 
sought, the Son of God answered " Lo, 
I come, to do Thy will, O God." All 
the virtues of the highest of angels 
would not suffice to save a human 
soul, nor to demonstrate, nor to preach 
the gospel of God's grace toward sin- 
38 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

ners. The work and ministry of the 
divine Son were necessary that sinners 
should not perish, but have everlasting 
life; and this "everlasting life," a 
blessed immortality, is beyond the ex- 
perience and hope of any angel, and 
is a specific condition of being not pos- 
sessed by any other creatures of God 
than those redeemed through the faith 
of the gospel and the indwelling of 
the Holy Spirit of God. 

I\ . The Gospel is a Specific Rev- 
elation 

It teaches and insures the faith that 
God is love. The only religion for 
man is love toward God. This love is 
the highest and noblest exercise of all 
the human faculties, and the source of 
all the treasures of time and eternity: 
"Now abideth faith, hope, charity 
(love), but the greatest of these is 
charity." 

Angelic holiness may indeed be a 
39 



The Love of God 

blessing for angels, and its elements 
exceeding glorious for them, but to 
all human consciousness the greater 
blessedness lies in the hopes of 
humanity thrilled by the love of God. 
For to our peculiar, racial sensibilities 
the knowledge and the possession of 
this 'Move of the Father," in His chil- 
dren will be far more joyous than in 
very truth could be the inferior appre- 
hension of angelic nature (which 
knows not this "love of the Father") 
of the wisdom, justice, power and 
majesty, and any other possible attri- 
butes of God. 

To manifest Himself God sent the 
Son of His love to do love's work in 
suffering and instruction, in compas- 
sion and forbearance, and in all the 
operations by which God shall pour 
out and delight Himself in love, and 
by which our love shall be encouraged, 
and our hearts brought into His own 
image in love. Hereby we shall be 
changed from glory to glory being 
40 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

transformed into the likeness of God's 
dear Son. 

Wherefore the herald, John, first, 
and Jesus, the King of Glory, upon 
their appearing proclaimed to sinners 
the kingdom of heaven at hand; an 
entrance into the privileges and joys of 
faith and love toward God assuring 
complete blessedness according to the 
will of God. In the kingdom of 
heaven (which covers the state of the 
holy of all races of beings, of what- 
ever name, rank, place in the entire 
universe) mankind are manifestly to 
be exalted to the highest and most 
favored position. The nobility of the 
kingdom of heaven will find its great- 
est ones in those who have been pre- 
pared for the place Jesus has gone "to 
prepare," in "honor and glory," by 
being like God in love. Such alone 
are the redeemed of mankind, created 
to fulfill this exact condition, and 
herein distinguished or separated from 
all other intelligences of the universe, 
41 



The Love of God 

or the kingdom of heaven. For such 
the Father has " prepared a place from 
the beginning," "a kingdom from the 
foundation of the world " (Matt. xxv. 
34), and Jesus has gone to make it 
ready, and will come again to receive 
such to Himself. This also agrees 
with the Ephesian Epistle (chap. i. 
21): "At His own right hand in the 
heavenlies, most exalted over all lead- 
ers and existing authorities, and the 
powerful and lordships, of every name 
and time and place." Not that we 
shall be able to rival others in their 
many distinguishing and peculiar char- 
acteristics of nature; but we shall be 
different and better than they in that 
we know God in love, and "dwell in 
love" as none of them can possibly 
do. 

Christ Himself is our real and effi- 
cient eucharist, and the sign of our 
perfect union with Him, and with one 
another is called a " love feast." 
Jesus in His first meeting with Peter, 
42 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

after his denial, did not probe his intel- 
ligence, but his heart, "lovest thou 
Me?" So Luther said, "the heart is 
the best theologian." Love is indeed 
"the greatest thing in the world," but 
not because it is in the world, nor of 
the world, but because it is in the 
gospel preached in the world, and is 
beyond and above all else. It is the 
greatest thing in the universe of heaven 
and earth, for God is love, and He is 
Love because He is God. 

"We know that we have passed 
from death unto life because we love 
the brethren"; and every one that 
loveth is born of God (His seed re- 
maineth in him) and knows God." 
Very little stress is laid upon our ap- 
prehension of the wisdom and power 
of God, but very much, and the whole 
burden of our responsibility is to 
know the love of God toward us, and 
to love Him with the whole heart, and 
soul, and mind. God measures the 
stature of man by that which is in the 

43 



The Love of God 

heart, and which is open to His eye. 
Love is the badge of our divine nature, 
and this shall be fully and universally 
recognized and honored in our Fa- 
ther's Kingdom; and which none 
others may covet, nor attain. 

V. Conclusion of the Whole Mat- 
ter 

This study leads us outside and be- 
yond the common boundaries of the 
beaten field of theology. But the only 
question for our anxious concern is 
whether we can follow it intelligently 
and confidently under the clear shin- 
ing of the lamp of our accepted revela- 
tion. If so we not only may thank- 
fully and hopefully follow, but feel the 
constraint of loving duty and expecta- 
tion of large profit. All this is richly 
promised, and may be made grandly 
real. 

Confessedly this excursion brings us 
nearer to the centre of truth, and af- 
fords an additional and more ap- 

44 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

preciable sense of the precise hopes of 
the gospel. If it shall only throw a 
side light upon the history of redemp- 
tion, and serve to bring into any 
greater distinctness the reality and 
splendor of God's love, so that our 
dull hearts shall be better impressed 
and stirred to enjoy it, it will then at 
least reinforce our motives to godli- 
ness, strengthening our sense of the 
practical need of a full and perfect 
consecration in submitting ourselves 
to the whole will of God. It will 
stimulate our desire to be truly con- 
formed to and put on the Lord Jesus 
as the supreme and glorious aim of 
our whole life. We shall have a 
more acute and vigorous understand- 
ing of what "the good news" (the 
gospel) offers in the revelation and 
hope of God's love as our peculiar in- 
heritance. We shall be better able to 
comprehend the immeasurable char- 
acter of our possession in the love of 
God in its breadth and length and 
45 



The Love of God 

depth and height, and be mightily 
stimulated and encouraged to "be 
filled with all the fullness of God." 

The attraction of this study will be 
felt in all our religious meditation, and 
expression of our faith in Jesus; it 
necessarily touches and will quicken 
our spiritual sensibilities at every point ; 
the gospel will send forth brighter 
beams upon our earthly pathway; our 
Christian emotions will be enriched 
and intensified toward a better and 
purer living, as it is written by the be- 
loved disciple, " he that hath this hope 
in him, purifieth himself as He is 
pure." These effects coincide with 
the whole aim of the gospel, and 
which therefore should be welcomed, 
and in which we should heartily re- 
joice, and enable us more immediately 
to understand the Holy Spirit's striv- 
ings to turn us away from an inimical, 
selfish worldliness, and also help us 
the more readily and patiently and 
boldly to seek the crown of glory whose 
4 6 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

prize is made so plain and palpable. 
The meaning of "the kingdom of 
heaven " will be more quickly grasped 
by our common understanding, and a 
strong encouragement to enter will be 
intelligently realized by "whosoever 
heareth " the invitation. 

Moreover, and with a distinct and 
immense advantage the positions 
herein taken appear to give us a 
glimpse of a real and practical phi- 
losophy of the gospel, and which all 
the quest of the ages has failed to 
discover. The absence of such a phi- 
losophy has been an offence to the 
natural mind, but here the why and 
the wherefore of human existence 
appears before our eyes. Herein we 
seem to have a clue to many of the 
paradoxes of Christian doctrine and 
faith: the occasion of sin and a Sav- 
iour, the demand for a superhuman 
character in man, of a new birth, of 
Christian otherworldliness, and of the 
superior dominion of faith and love 
47 



The Love of God 

in religion, and of the divine purpose 
concerning the operations of grace 
"before the foundation of the world" 
(i Cor. ii. 7). Perhaps it was a vague 
or imperfect apprehension of the facts 
above stated, which led Origen, in the 
second century, to contend for a pre- 
existence of human souls, grasping at 
the thought of a pre-creation cause 
for the particular conditions found in 
man's relations to God under the 
gospel. 

Herein we recognize the necessity 
and practicability of the mind of 
Christ in all who are His. To walk 
by faith is presumably the attribute 
of those only whose confidence rests 
upon knowledge of God's love, and 
therefore without such faith on earth, 
it is "impossible to please God," and 
by it we are enabled to live without 
doubting and fear at all times. Hence 
we may well conceive that angels do 
not and cannot walk by this faith, but 
only such as have been redeemed and 
4 8 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

filled with love which compels peace 
and casts out fear, through the Holy 
Spirit in them. 

This particular view of man's re- 
lation to God amply sustains the essen- 
tial anthropocentric claim of all sacred 
Scripture, and which has withstood 
the ruthless and persistent opposition 
of skeptical adherents to the Coperni- 
can system, and the materialistic as- 
sumptions of modern rationalism. As 
recently Goldwin Smith, on "The 
Riddle of Existence," declares that 
"the cosmological and historic foun- 
dations of traditional (Christian) belief 
have been sapped by science and criti- 
cism . . . dogmatic religion and reve- 
lation received a fatal wound by the 
incoming of the Copernican system 
which shows the insignificant conse- 
quence of our little earth among the 
countless worlds in space." Not so! 
For the term "little earth" is a mis- 
nomer when the divine purpose ful- 
filled by it is considered, and when 

49 



The Love of God 

only a weak human standard of meas- 
urement is employed, and which in- 
cludes the false conceptions of time 
and space as used according to imper- 
fect perceptions and finite experience. 
Our human conceptions of time and 
space are manifestly false and impos- 
sible and insubstantial, arising from 
our constricted intelligence. Truly in 
a philosophical view there is no such 
thing in reality as either the one or 
the other as we conceive of time and 
of space. Therefore to measure the 
work of God by these false standards, 
in reference to the value and place of 
this world in the universe, and to de- 
termine the significance of the divine 
operations by the physical proportions 
of this world is utterly vain and un- 
justifiable. The true measure is that 
\ of the divine purpose and by an un- 
derstanding of the spiritual energy 
exploited thereby on earth. By the 
divine word, then, plainly this design 
" is the most magnificent ever planned 
5° 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

by the Creator of the universe: to 
bring forth and prepare a people who 
shall be His children, filled with His 
Spirit and having a divine nature, and \j 
who shall enter into His joys, and con- 
tinue ever in a special, and the highest 
communion and fellowship with Him- 
self, to be a race of kings and priests 
unto God, and to be thus recognized 
throughout the whole universe. Geo- 
graphical and chronological elements 
in this plan are nowhere and noth- 
ing, and sustain no argument against 
the distinct fact which appears in the 
express revelation from God. The 
climax of the universal theology of 
the eternities is not governed by the 
index of an apothecary's scales, nor a 
surveyor's chain, nor the pendulum 
of a town clock. Conceding any value 
for the claims advanced in these pages 
it is evident that in no proper sense 
are the disparagements of this earth 
in comparison with other, or all other, 
worlds composing the physical uni- 
51 



The Love of God 

verse to be admitted. Here is the 
scene and platform on which God 
exhibits the most important operation 
of His glory before "an innumerable 
cloud of witnesses," and for the bless- 
ing of all the worlds. Therefore the 
anthropocentric claims of sacred his- 
tory are fully vindicated and sustained, 
and stand as with stronger reason as a 
divine revelation, and this particular 
writing brings into view the hidden 
foundation of the history of mankind 
in its divine and universal relations. 
Also it brings into clearer vision the 
hopes of that future blessedness as yet 
only seen afar, and kindles a tender 
eagerness to press toward "the prize 
of the high calling." 

"We know not yet what we shall 
be, but we know that when we shall 
see Him as He is we shall be like 
Him," gives to mankind a dignity and 
worth incomparable with any phys- 
ical or material values however great 
and many, and sets him upon the pin- 
5 2 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

nacle of all created entities and condi- 
tions. 

" Could'st thou in vision see 
Thyself the man God meant, 
Thou never more would'st be 
The man thou art — content." 

While we may contend that no new 
revelation of truth from heaven can be 
expected, nor is required, yet it be- 
comes us to make a distinction be- 
tween what might be advanced as 
new, and that which is a development 
of the old and accepted truth, which 
this is designed to be. We have no 
more authority to deny the possibility 
of new discoveries of truth in the spirit- 
ual world in which we live, than we 
might have to deny the possibility of 
new discoveries in the physical world 
about us. The Lord declared that 
"every scribe which is instructed unto 
the kingdom of heaven is like unto 
a man that is a householder, which 
bringeth forth out of his treasure 
things new and old." We may ex- 
53 



The Love of God 

pect no discoveries of truth outside 
of and independent of the Word, but 
in and by the Word itself. As has 
been said, "Men have not thought as 
high and as deep as they might think 
into the mysteries of a divine grace 
and revelation. . . . Progress is called 
for along Biblical lines. New applica- 
tions of the divine truth and grace to 
the problems of the individual and 
society may be effected, as some Edi- 
son or Tesla makes the already serv- 
iceable electricity to become still more 
completely the servant of mankind." 

In this advancing age of prevailing 
intelligence and independence of 
thought, incident to a universal edu- 
cation, the why and wherefore of the 
gospel may well be expected and 
recognized as a reinforcement divinely 
sent to stay the natural advance of 
scoff and skepticism, and as an arrow 
sent from heaven, out of the armory 
of all truth, to prick and bring to col- 
lapse the bubble of ignorant conceit 
54 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

and hollow pretention. If there is a 
philosophic aspect of God's relations 
with mankind (and all truth is philo- 
sophic), and it is possible for man to 
receive this knowledge, such a time as 
the present might well be that in 
which to make this known. The love 
of God, and His will that the truth 
shall prevail, that His word should 
have free course, that the way of 
righteousness should be unfettered and 
open, would seem to lead to the ex- 
pectation that in the fullness of time, 
when the cries of human faith and 
hope and love might awaken, and 
God's children might be eager for and 
strengthened by such a philosophy, 
then it should be given them, then at 
least some glimmering of the brighter 
light and fuller day should appear. 
And conceiving this presentation of 
the why and wherefore of the gospel 
to be the truth, it answers to this need, 
and shall not only be a bulwark of the 
kingdom, but also a force to hasten 
55 



The Love of God 

the defeat of its enemies, and an in- 
spiration and banner for its friends. 

The great name of God, Jehovah, 
" signifies that the being of God has a 
progressive manifestation or develop- 
ment. It points to God's relations to 
man in history. . . . This name 
shows that God was revealing Him- 
self constantly and progressively" 
(Schaff-Herzog). It has always been 
confidently believed by earnest Chris- 
tian teachers, and affirmed by holy 
men, that the Church should have an 
increasing knowledge of God, more 
light and a better understanding of 
that Scripture which has already been 
given from God, and as we are able to 
bear it, and as the progress of the 
heavenly kingdom demands light and 
power for its increased capacity and 
enlarging function. The Scriptures 
are a divine coffer containing the treas- 
ures of wisdom and knowledge pre- 
pared for the glorious adornment of 
the King's Daughter, the Lamb's Bride, 
56 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

to be bestowed upon her when she is 
prepared to array herself; the key is 
ever at hand to open this coffer when 
she is in readiness to wear the orna- 
ments of new grace and beauty. 

By many tokens the present time is 
appointed for a new discovery of the 
meaning of "the love of God," or 
that " God is love." There is a power 
and virtue in this wonderful truth that 
few souls have yet realized, neither 
seen nor felt, but which is manifestly 
near for and in the Church of Jesus. 
Most truthfully it may be said that the 
Church shall put on a new life and 
shine with a truer glory as it comes 
into a more efficient realization of the 
meaning of the words "God is love." 
The light of the better understanding 
of this truth shall signalize the bright 
dawn of the twentieth century. For 
as it has been written "Love is life. 
Love is the one indestructible thing in 
the world; love is the one real thing 
in the world. . . . The whole gospel 
57 



The Love of God 

is summed up in one word — Love. 
. . . The whole world, and all the 
worlds are to be summed up in one 
word, and that word is Love — for God 
is Love. . . . The great discovery of 
the age is the love of God. It seems 
as though Augustine, even Luther, 
hardly knew it." When the Church 
knows this she will spring into a new 
and golden age of faith, and be thrilled 
with the power of this fact, and cast- 
ing away the rags and tawdry with 
which she has been toiling and trying 
to satisfy herself, will cast herself 
once and for all upon the bosom and 
into the arms of the Bridegroom now 
coming to meet her. Only as the 
Church awakes to the just sense that 
God is love, can she herself see, and 
learn and feel what love is. The 
Church does not love as it should, be- 
cause it does not know what love is. 
What it calls love, in a half-hearted, 
formal way, is not love — not full, true 
love — which will burst all the bars of 
58 



Revealed to the Entire Universe 

worldly restraints: of pride, fashion, 
lust, and ease, and feel this love like a 
consuming fire burning within its 
breast to do all, be anything, keep 
back nothing, from the Lord Jesus 
Christ. It will fill home and shop, 
store and street, with songs of joy and 
devotion. It then will be a bold, ir- 
resistible "army with banners," and 
its might will carry the gospel impetu- 
ously to all the ends of the earth — 

BUT NOT UNTIL THEN. 



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